Home video is recorded media sold or rented for home viewing. The term originates from the VHS and Betamax era, when the predominant medium was videotapes , but has carried over to optical disc formats such as DVD and Blu-ray . In a different usage, "home video" refers to amateur video recordings, also known as home movies .
125-569: 20th Century Home Entertainment (previously known as Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, LLC. and also known as 20th Century Studios Home Entertainment ) is a home video distribution arm that distributes films produced by 20th Century Studios , Searchlight Pictures , Blue Sky Studios , and 20th Century Animation and several third-party studios, as well as television series by 20th Television , Searchlight Television , 20th Television Animation , and FX Productions in home entertainment formats. For 38 years, 20th Century Home Entertainment
250-489: A VCR , and those who did tended to rent rather than buy videos. The late 1980s saw the emergence of a great many small companies which specialized in producing special-interest home videos, also known as "nontheatrical programming" and "alternative programming". These new video programs differed radically from earlier forms of video content in that they were never intended for theatrical exhibition nor television broadcasting. They were created specifically for niche audiences in
375-550: A brand label for films and television series by 20th Century Studios , Searchlight Pictures , 20th Television , Blue Sky Studios , 20th Century Animation , Searchlight Television , 20th Television Animation , and FX Productions . Additionally, the 20th Century Studios logo now serves as the all-encompassing logo for 20th Century Home Entertainment. As a result of Disney's acquisition of 21st Century Fox, MGM's home media deal with 20th Century expired and transferred to Warner Bros. Home Entertainment on 30 June 2020. Following
500-612: A cult following, due to their collectability. ITC Entertainment The Incorporated Television Company ( ITC ), or ITC Entertainment as it was referred to in the United States, was a British company involved in production and distribution of television programmes. Television mogul Lew Grade set up the Incorporated Television Programme Company (ITP) with Prince Littler and Val Parnell in 1954. Originally designed to be
625-633: A 2005 test with a Fox Faith website, in 2006, 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment launched its own film production banner for religious films using the same name. Effective October 1, 2005, 20th Century Fox Scandinavia was split into two, 20th Century Fox Theatrical Sweden and 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment Scandinavia. For the Home Entertainment Scandinavia division, Peter Paumgardhen was appointed managing director and would report to senior vice president of 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment Europe Gary Ferguson. By 2005, DVD
750-564: A DVD can be played on a computer. Due to all these advantages, by the mid 2000s, DVDs had become the dominant form of prerecorded video movies in both the rental film and new movie markets. In the late 2000s, stores began selling Blu-ray discs, a format that supports high definition . Blu-ray is a digital optical disc data storage format, designed to supersede the DVD format, and is capable of storing several hours of video in high definition (HDTV 720p and 1080p). The main application of Blu-ray
875-502: A VCR was $ 811, and the percentage of television-owning households with a VCR was unknown but probably just above zero. By 1992, the respective numbers for each of these categories were 105,502,000, $ 239, and 75.6%. During the 1980s, video rental stores became a popular way to watch home video. Video rental stores are physical retail businesses that rent home videos such as movies and prerecorded TV shows (sometimes also selling other media, such as video game copies on disc). Typically,
1000-470: A complete list of ITC produced and distributed programmes. ITC had no studios of its own. Programmes were made in several facilities but most notably at ABPC 's Elstree film studios (not to be confused with ATV 's nearby Clarendon Road Studios , Borehamwood, which was a live/videotape facility, and now known as BBC Elstree). However, the MGM-British Studios complex at Borehamwood , and
1125-670: A contractor for the UK's new ITV network, the company failed to win a contract when the Independent Television Authority felt that doing so would give too much control in the entertainment business to the Grade family's companies (which included large talent agencies and theatre interests) although the ITA said that ITP were free to make their own programmes which they could sell to the new network companies. ITP put most of
1250-636: A deal with Sony Pictures Home Entertainment to distribute Lionsgate's film library and future releases in US. In February 2006, British children's company HIT Entertainment signed a multi-year, multi-million dollar deal with Fox for the exclusive marketing, sales, and distribution rights of HIT's properties in North America beginning in August of that year. The deal would significantly boost HIT's distribution to over 70,000 retail storefronts. The deal between
1375-580: A deal with Time Warner Cable , as to secure a lower channel position for the then-new Fox Family Channel , so Mechanic adopted the DVD format to smooth the deal. By 1998, Wyatt became permanent president of 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment. Wyatt then became head of Fox Consumer Products, which put together the video and licensing unit. Wyatt had to drop the licensing half eventually, as the home video unit boomed. DVD sales were so strong during this period that they factored into green-lighting theatrical films. Wyatt reorganized Fox Home Entertainment, and forged
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#17328025530411500-514: A deal with 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment to release MGM's films outside of the US & Canada. In May 2003, MGM reinstated full distribution rights to their products in regions like Australia, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom, although 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment continued distributing MGM titles in a majority of developing regions. In 2006, after ending a similar deal with Sony Pictures Home Entertainment , MGM signed
1625-480: A deal with Warner to distribute its library in the country. Home video Released in 1978, LaserDisc (LD) is another home video format, which never managed to gain widespread use on North American and European retail markets due to high cost of the players and their inability to record TV programs (unlike the VHS ), although it retained some popularity among videophiles and film enthusiasts during its lifespan;
1750-459: A deal with the studio to release DiC content on DVD. With Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) moving its home video distribution to TCFHE in 2006, by this time the company had moved into second place behind Warner Bros. and ahead of Walt Disney, and had its best year yet. In October, Fox Home Entertainment issued the first to include a digital copy along on a disc with the special-edition DVD of Live Free or Die Hard . The 2010 Blu-ray release of Avatar
1875-597: A direct-to-video film production and financing company for Japanese-style animated programming. In 2004, 20th Century Fox passed on theatrical distribution, but picked up domestic home video rights to The Passion of the Christ . Passion sold 15 million DVDs. TCFHE continued obtaining additional Christian films' domestic home video rights for movies like Mother Teresa and the Beyond the Gates of Splendor documentary. After
2000-576: A few exceptions: The Adventures of Robin Hood and the other swashbuckling adventure series of the late 1950s and early 1960s were released on DVD by Network, as was Strange Report . Many of the drama shows from the 1960s and 1970s have since been released by Network as limited edition box sets. In 2005, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the founding of the company, Network released a DVD box set entitled ITC 50 featuring episodes from eighteen different ITC productions. The Walt Disney Company has owned
2125-532: A few years longer, but exited at some point during World War I . After the quick failures of these early attempts at home viewing, most feature films were essentially inaccessible to the public after their original theatrical runs. For most of the 20th century, the idea that ordinary consumers could own copies of films and watch them at their convenience in their own homes "was beyond the grasp of reasonable expectations." Some very popular films were given occasional theatrical re-releases in urban revival houses and
2250-528: A fraction of its costs; Grade himself retired from active film production, commenting that it would have been cheaper to "lower the Atlantic." Cussler himself told People Weekly Magazine, "The film was so poor, it boggles the mind." After the films' failures, ITC and EMI agreed to sell AFD and the distribution rights to its library to Universal Pictures , though the AFD films which were then in post production at
2375-452: A hard disk or flash storage – became available to purchase and rent. Despite the mainstream dominance of DVD, VHS continued to be used, albeit less frequently, throughout the 2000s; decline in VHS use continued during the 2010s. The switch to DVD initially led to mass-selling of used VHS videocassettes, which were available at used-goods stores, typically for a much lower price than
2500-404: A joint venture. The joint venture was originally between Fox, Pathé and Le Studio Canal+ , and was known as PFC Vidéo (Pathé Fox Canal). In January 2001, StudioCanal exited the venture to start distributing releases through then-sister company Universal Pictures Video France (later switching to self-distributing their releases), and EuropaCorp joined the joint-venture. Effectively, the venture
2625-400: A low profile, largely subsisting on made-for-television films and other projects, as well as the distribution of their back-catalog; the company also picked up television distribution rights to Kings Road Entertainment titles. In 1987, ITC and HBO signed an exclusive agreement for ITC to handle distribution of HBO's original films. Later that year, the partnership was expanded on further as
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#17328025530412750-407: A magnetic soundtrack, but in comparison to modern technologies, film projection was still quite expensive and difficult to use. As a result, home viewing of films remained limited to a small community of dedicated hobbyists willing and able to invest large amounts of money in projectors, screens, and film prints, and it therefore made little revenue for film companies. In 1956, Ampex pioneered
2875-534: A majority of the ITC Entertainment library were assumed from Lionsgate Home Entertainment (whose predecessor, Artisan Entertainment , had held rights to ITC's back catalogue since the early 1990s, and had been licensing ITC's TV output since the 1980s). American video distribution rights to ITC's feature film catalog were originally licensed to Magnetic Video in 1980, and that company's successors – 20th Century-Fox Video and CBS/Fox Video – retained
3000-504: A part of that, CBS/Fox looked to existing retail chains for direct sales. Toys "R" Us and Child World signed the first direct deals in July 1985 with CBS/Fox. Walt Disney Home Video soon followed with a direct deal with Toys "R" Us. During this period, two sub-labels of the company were created. The first was Key Video , launched in April 1984, structured as a separate company but utilizing
3125-488: A part of the transition from ATV to Central). The final blow came in the summer of 1982, when majority control of ACC was sold to Australian financier Robert Holmes à Court . Grade had thought Court to be a friend, and allowed him to purchase majority control of ACC; upon doing so, Court promptly performed a boardroom coup against Grade and fired many of ACC and ITC's staffers (even, as Grade sadly noted, his tea lady). Following Court's assumption of control, ITC kept
3250-499: A partnership with replicator Cinram . Being ahead of the other studios, TCFHE began picking up additional outside labels as distribution clients, with their fees covering the company's overhead. Fox Home Entertainment won multiple Vendor of the Year awards. Wyatt's system was a great edge for years. The TV-on-DVD business was initiated by Wyatt through the release of whole seasons of The X-Files , The Simpsons and 24 , which started
3375-402: A rental shop conducts business with customers under conditions and terms agreed upon in a rental agreement or contract , which may be implied, explicit, or written. Many video rental stores also sell previously viewed movies and/or new unopened movies. In the 1980s, video rental stores rented films in both the VHS and Betamax formats, although most stores stopped using Betamax tapes when VHS won
3500-407: A rocket, Fox bought Magnetic Video in 1978 and turned the company into its home video division . The home video market grew rapidly along with the widespread acquisition of affordable videocassette recorders by the majority of households during the 1980s. For example, in 1978, total number of VCRs purchased to date at wholesale in the United States was only 402,000, the average wholesale price of
3625-555: A single disc, which is spun at high speed, while VHS videocassettes had several moving parts that were far more vulnerable to breaking down under heavy wear and tear. Each time a VHS cassette was played, the magnetic tape inside had to be pulled out and wrapped around the inclined drum head inside the player. While a VHS tape can be erased if it is exposed to a rapidly changing magnetic field of sufficient strength, DVDs and other optical discs are not affected by magnetic fields. The relative mechanical simplicity and durability of DVD compared to
3750-838: A small selection of DIC's catalogue on DVD, with the deal including Inspector Gadget , Madeline , Dennis the Menace and Care Bears . The distribution deal continued with Cookie Jar Group after its purchase of DIC in 2008. Eventually, Cookie Jar's deal with Fox expired after 2011. In 2007, to commemorate the successful sales of Strawberry Shortcake in North America, American Greetings extended their home video deal with Fox to include DVD releases of Care Bears: Adventures in Care-a-Lot and Sushi Pack . In January 2009, American Greetings announced that they would move their North American distribution to Lionsgate Home Entertainment however Strawberry Shortcake remained under Fox due to
3875-502: A suggested list price of $ 24.98, to encourage purchasing over rental. Bill Mechanic 's arrival in 1993 from Walt Disney Home Video, as the new head of Fox Filmed Entertainment, saw new plans to move Fox forward, including Fox Video. However, DeLellis was initially left alone, as Mechanic was occupied setting up multiple creative divisions within Fox. Mechanic had been the one to install the "Vault" moratorium strategy at Disney. Mrs. Doubtfire
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4000-561: A time every few months and active shows to be released on DVD after the end of each season. Prior to the television DVDs, most television shows were only viewable in syndication , on limited "best of" VHS releases of selected episodes or released slowly in volumes with only two or three episodes per tape. These copyrighted movies and programs generally have legal restrictions on them preventing them from, among other things, being shown in public venues, shown to other people for money, or copied for other than fair use purposes (although such ability
4125-586: A worldwide distribution deal with 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, reinstating the rights internationally. TCFHE and MGM renewed their home video distribution deal twice (one in 2011 and one in June 2016) and it expired on June 30, 2020, with Warner Bros. Home Entertainment taking over in that same year. As of 2021, Studio Distribution Services, LLC., a joint venture between Warner Bros. Home Entertainment and Universal Pictures Home Entertainment , distributes in North America, with releases initially alternating between
4250-580: Is as a medium for video material such as feature films and for the physical distribution of video games. The plastic disc is the same size as DVDs and compact discs . Blu-ray was officially released on June 20, 2006, beginning the high-definition optical disc format war , in which Blu-ray Disc competed against the HD DVD format. Toshiba , the main company supporting HD DVD, conceded in February 2008. Blu-ray has competition from video on demand (VOD) and
4375-663: Is limited by some jurisdictions and media formats – see below). After the passage of the Video Recordings (Labelling) Act of 1985 in the United Kingdom, videotapes and other video recordings without a certification symbol from the British Board of Film Classification on their covers – or on the tapes themselves – were no longer allowed to be sold or displayed by rental shops. These tapes are called "Pre-Certs" (i.e. Pre-certification tapes). Recently these tapes have generated
4500-601: Is usually required to elapse between theatrical release and availability on home video to encourage movie theater patronage and discourage copyright infringement . Home-video releases originally followed five to six months after theatrical release, but since the late 2000s, most films have begun being distributed on video after three to four months. As of 2019, most major theater chains mandate an exclusivity window of 90 days before home-video release, and 74–76 days before electronic sell-through . Christmas and other holiday-related movies are sometimes not released on home video until
4625-558: The Muppets franchise since 2004, including ITC productions The Muppet Show , The Muppet Movie , and The Great Muppet Caper , although Universal Pictures retains domestic theatrical rights to the latter two productions. The Jim Henson Company owns the ITC production The Dark Crystal as it had bought the film from the company after production had completed. While Universal retains both domestic and international theatrical rights to
4750-776: The Marvel Productions and Marvel Films Animation library. Shortly afterward, Saban terminated its existing home video deal with WarnerVision Entertainment , and decided that they would move itself to TCFHE. In 2001, The Walt Disney Company acquired Fox Family Worldwide , which included the Fox Family Channel , the Fox Kids brand and Saban Entertainment. A year later in 2002, Saban became BVS Entertainment and its titles transferred to Buena Vista Home Entertainment for distribution. In 1999, after ending their worldwide deal with Warner Home Video , MGM signed
4875-605: The acquisition of 21st Century Fox by The Walt Disney Company was proposed. Disney acquired most of 21st Century Fox's entertainment assets on March 20, 2019, including 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment. On January 17, 2020, Disney retired the "Fox" name from several of the acquired 21st Century Fox assets (to avoid confusion with Fox Corporation ), including the renaming of 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment as 20th Century Home Entertainment. Disney also folded 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment into their existing Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment division to be used solely as
5000-511: The format war late in the decade. The shift to home viewing radically changed revenue streams for film companies, because home renting provided an additional window of time in which a film could make money. In some cases, films that performed only modestly in their theater releases went on to sell significantly well in the rental market (e.g., cult films ). During the 1980s, video distributors gradually realized that many consumers did want to build their own video libraries, and not just rent, if
5125-557: The "CBS Video" name (which had been sparingly used since the 1970s), with CBS/Fox handling marketing and Fox Video handling distribution. CBS/Fox would retain the license to non-theatrical products from third parties, including those from BBC Video and the NBA. Fox Video was run by president Bob DeLellis, a 1984 hire at CBS/Fox who had risen to group vice president and president by 1991. With expected repeat viewing, FoxVideo dropped prices on family films starting in June 1991 with Home Alone at
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5250-460: The 2003 deal, and was soon expanded to include Strawberry Shortcake's Berry Bitty Adventures . In 2008, WWE Studios signed a deal with 20th Century Fox, allowing it to distribute one theatrical title and four direct-to-video titles annually. 20th Century Home Entertainment distributes films for Annapurna Pictures in the United States, as part of a distribution pact that began in July 2017. From July 1993 until 2001, Le Studio Canal+'s content
5375-590: The CBS/Fox sales and marketing arms; Key's remit was to exploit catalog titles (from both CBS and Fox as well as other companies whose catalogs CBS/Fox had access to at the time, including Lorimar , ITC and United Artists ) targeted towards collectors and longer shelf life than other titles (later expanded to include acquired titles and non-theatrical programming from outside CBS/Fox, primarily B-movies). Key's offerings were often, though not always, priced for sale at cheaper rates than mainstream CBS/Fox titles. The other
5500-509: The Guild name in 1998, The 50-50 rental joint venture was renamed to Fox Pathé Home Entertainment . This physical and digital agreement was later briefly carried over to Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment following the purchase of Fox before expiring on June 30, 2021, after Pathé signed a new partnership deal with Warner Bros. Pictures . In 1996, Fox Kids Network merged with Saban Entertainment to form Fox Kids Worldwide , which included
5625-726: The ITC and EMI films initially released by AFD. The AFD fiasco was just one blow against Grade's entertainment empire; Grade found himself essentially ejected from ITV following the 1980 franchise round, which stipulated that ACC needed to sell the majority of its shares in ATV and turn ATV Midlands into a new business, Central Independent Television ; the Independent Broadcasting Authority had previously criticized ATV's lack of commitment to their Midlands broadcast area, in favor of creating big-budget productions alongside ATV at their Elstree studios (which were sold as
5750-479: The ITC television and film library from PolyGram/Seagram for £91 million, which reunited the programme library of ATV and Central Television and doubled the stock of its library division ( Carlton International ), giving it a total of 15,000 hours of programming. Carlton chairman Michael Green said: 'The ITC library is a jewel in the crown. We can now unite it with the other gems from Britain's film and television heritage in our excellent library.' In 2004, Carlton
5875-471: The Key Video name (later renamed to Key DVD) made a brief comeback in the 2000s. In March 1991, a reorganization of the company was made, which would give Fox greater control of the joint venture. All of CBS/Fox's distribution functions were transferred to the newly formed Fox Video , which would also take over exclusive distribution of all 20th Century Fox products. CBS began releasing their products under
6000-616: The Mysterons , Stingray , Joe 90 , Interpol Calling , Man in a Suitcase , Strange Report , Department S , The Persuaders! , Jason King , The Adventurer , The Protectors , Space 1999 , and Return of the Saint . Some ATV videotaped productions, usually recorded at ATV Elstree Studios , were produced as 'international productions' and distributed overseas with ITC branding - these included The Muppet Show , Brian Clemens' Thriller and The Julie Andrews Hour ,
6125-535: The Philadelphia Flash ), La Cage aux Folles II , and Star Wars . While sale tapes were in big boxes that were later used by CBS/Fox in its early years (dubbed "Fox Boxes" by VHS collectors), Video Rental Library tapes were packaged in black clamshell cases. Similar approaches were taken by other companies; however, none lasted long. In June 1982, 20th Century Fox entered into a joint venture with CBS to form CBS/Fox Video ; Roberts remained head of
6250-557: The United Kingdom (Elevation Sales), Poland (Galapagos), Czech Republic (Magic Box), Spain (Divisa Films), Italy (Eagle Pictures), Scandinavia ( SF Studios ), France and Benelux (ESC Distribution), Germany ( Leonine Studios ) and Japan ( Happinet ). In February 2024, Disney entered into a home video distribution agreement with Sony Pictures Home Entertainment , in which Sony would handle all physical media production and distribution for Disney's home entertainment assets in North America. The first 20th Century Studios film to be released by Sony
6375-737: The United States, and over 154 million subscriptions total, including free trials. It is available worldwide except in mainland China (due to local restrictions), Syria, North Korea, and Crimea (due to U.S. sanctions). The company also has offices in India , the Netherlands , Brazil , Japan , and South Korea . Netflix is a member of the Motion Picture Association . Netflix began producing media itself in 2012 and since then took more of an active role as producer and distributor for both films and television series. Following
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#17328025530416500-507: The United States, the company also distributed products from Anchor Bay Entertainment , Relativity Media , EuropaCorp U.S.A. and Yari Film Group . CBS/Fox Video also once served as a distributor for television and film products released by BBC Video in the United States until these rights expired on June 30, 2000, and weren't renewed. On June 28, 2000, BBC Worldwide announced a new partnership with Warner Home Video for US & Canada that would begin effectively on July 1, 2000, excluding
6625-502: The acquisition of ATV. The initials 'ITC' stood for two different things: Independent Television Corporation for sales to the Americas, and Incorporated Television Company for sales to the rest of the world. The American Independent Television Corporation was formed in 1958 as a joint venture with Jack Wrather . In September 1958 it purchased Television Programs of America (TPA) for $ 11,350,000. Wrather sold his shares to Lew Grade at
6750-515: The archive series had released 100 movies. Fox Home Entertainment also started the early window policy, where the digital version is released through digital retailers two or three weeks before the discs, and was launched with Prometheus in September 2012. This also started Fox's Digital HD program where customers could download or stream 600 Fox films on connected devices at less than $ 15/film through multiple major platforms. However, Digital HD
6875-559: The binge-watching concept. However, the videocassette rental business was declining such that video rental chains signed revenue-sharing deals with the studios, so additional copies of hits could be brought in for a lower price, and share sales for more customer satisfaction. Mechanic left Fox in June 2000, while Wyatt resigned in December 2002. Jim Gianopulos replaced Mechanic, while executive vice president of domestic marketing and sales, Mike Dunn, took over from Wyatt. Wyatt left to start
7000-411: The company became a subsidiary of Associated Television (ATV)—the name ABC had adopted after threats of legal action from fellow ITV company Associated British Cinemas (Television) Ltd —and produced its own programmes for ATV and for syndication in the United States. It also distributed ATV material outside of the UK. From 1966 to 1982 it was a subsidiary of Associated Communications Corporation after
7125-536: The company did not initially issue DVDs; instead, Fox advocated for digital VHS tapes (which eventually emerged as the obscure D-Theater ), then the disposable DIVX . DIVX was a DVD variant that had limited viewing time, launched by the Circuit City consumer electronics chain in June 1998. With DVD's low cost at $ 20 and DIVX at $ 4.50, and the desirability for consumers to own DVDs, the DVD format won quickly out over DIVX. News Corporation chief Rupert Murdoch wanted
7250-449: The company forged a deal with producer David Gerber in 1993. In the meantime, it entered into a financing agreement with Interscope Communications to handle U.S. and foreign sales of its telemovies. In 1990, ITC briefly attempted to enter the lucrative American game show market, with a syndicated revival of Tic-Tac-Dough , which had previously run from 1978 to 1986 in syndication, alongside Barry & Enright Productions . However,
7375-548: The company teamed up with General Cinema Corporation to form Associated General Films, and produced films including Voyage of the Damned , Capricorn One , and The Eagle Has Landed ; the partnership ended the following year. Other films produced by ITC include The Boys from Brazil , The Return of the Pink Panther , The Last Unicorn , and a number of Jim Henson Company productions: The Dark Crystal and
7500-569: The company's films on home media. This was extended to include DreamWorks' pre-2013 catalog following DreamWorks' purchase of it from Paramount Pictures on July 1, 2014. Fox's rights with DreamWorks ended in 2017 after the release of Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie and the purchase of DreamWorks Animation by NBCUniversal a year prior. With that, DreamWorks transferred the home entertainment rights to its movies to Universal Pictures Home Entertainment. In
7625-437: The continued sale of DVDs. As of January 2016, 44% of U.S. broadband households had a Blu-ray player. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, though, people continued to use VCRs to record over-the-air TV shows, because they could not make home recordings onto DVDs. This problem with DVD was resolved in the late 2000s, when inexpensive DVD recorders and other digital video recorders (DVRs) – which record shows onto
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#17328025530417750-679: The end of the decade. The large foreign sales achieved by ITC during the British government's export drives of the 1960s and 1970s led to ACC receiving the Queen's Award for Export on numerous occasions. ITC is best known for being the company behind many successful British cult TV filmed series during the 1960s and 1970s, such as The Saint , Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) , Danger Man , The Baron , Gideon's Way , The Champions , The Prisoner , Thunderbirds , Captain Scarlet and
7875-516: The equivalent film on a used DVD. In July 2016, the last known manufacturer of VCRs, Funai , announced that it was ceasing VCR production. One of streaming's largest impacts was on DVD, which has become less popular with the mass popularization of online streaming of media . Media streaming's popularization caused many DVD rental companies, such as Blockbuster , to go out of business. In July 2015, The New York Times published an article about Netflix 's DVD-by-mail services. It stated that Netflix
8000-441: The expanded business unit would have been over $ 800 million, with FoxVideo providing the bulk at $ 650 million. Mechanic kept DeLellis as president of the expanded unit's North American operation, with Jeff Yap as international president. By May 1995, Fox had Magnet under a worldwide label deal for 10 to 12 titles through 1996. TCFHE would also be responsible for DVD when they hit the market. Mechanic had Fox Home Entertainment institute
8125-473: The film, its home video and television broadcast rights are licensed to Shout! Factory. ITC produced and distributed a wide range of content across both film and television, over several decades. ITC productions and distributions crossed many different genres – from historical adventure, to spy-fi and action, and later into both children's and adult science-fiction – as well as films covering many different subjects. The ITC Distributions page offers
8250-495: The first commercially practical videotape recording system. The Ampex system, though, used reel-to-reel tape and physically bulky equipment not suitable for home use. In the mid-1970s, videotape became the first truly practical home-video format with the development of videocassettes , which were far easier to use than tape reels. The Betamax and VHS home videocassette formats were introduced, respectively, in 1975 and 1976, but several more years and significant reductions in
8375-420: The first two Muppet films, The Muppet Movie and The Great Muppet Caper . Initially, ITC productions were licensed out to other US studios for release until 1979, when ITC partnered with another UK-based production company, Thorn EMI Screen Entertainment , to create Associated Film Distribution , which would release films produced by each company, as well as pick-ups from other production companies. In 1979,
8500-800: The following year, when the holiday occurs again. Major studios have made films available for rental during their theatrical window on high-end services that charge upwards of $ 500 per rental and use proprietary hardware. Exceptions to the rule include the Steven Soderbergh film Bubble , which was released in 2006 to theaters, cable television, and DVD only a few days apart. Netflix has released some of its films, such as Roma and The Irishman , in limited theatrical release followed by streaming availability after less than 30 days. Many television programs are now also available in complete seasons on DVD. It has become popular practice for discontinued TV shows to be released to DVD one season at
8625-652: The format had greater prevalence in some regions of Southeast Asia such as Japan , Hong Kong , Singapore and Malaysia where it was better supported. Film titles were released in LD format until 2001, production of LD players ceased in 2009. The home video business distributes films , television series , telefilms and other audiovisual media to the public in the form of videos in various formats, either bought or rented and then watched privately in purchasers' homes. Most theatrically released films are now released on digital media (both optical and download-based), replacing
8750-420: The fragility of VHS made DVDs a far better format from a rental store's perspective. Though DVDs do not have the problems of videocassettes, such as breakage of the tape or the cassette mechanism, they can still be damaged by scratches. Another advantage from the perspective of video rental stores is that DVDs are physically much smaller, so they take less space to store. DVDs also offer a number of advantages for
8875-476: The height of disco music, was released 20 June 1980, by which time disco's popularity had diminished and the form was experiencing a backlash from music listeners. The poorly reviewed film ultimately grossed $ 2 million on a $ 20 million budget. On 1 August 1980, the release of the poorly received Raise the Titanic! met with pre-release criticism from the novel's author, Clive Cussler , and recouped only
9000-465: The home video label for products released under the 20th Century Studios , Searchlight Pictures , Blue Sky Studios , 20th Century Animation , 20th Century Family , 20th Television , 20th Television Animation and FX Productions banners. 20th Century's best-selling DVD titles are the various season box sets of The Simpsons . Since July 1993, Fox's Home video operations in France have operated as
9125-401: The home video market, and through its home video division, Buena Vista Home Entertainment , the company did just that during the 1980s and 1990s. This spectacular success "catapulted the head of Disney's video division, Bill Mechanic , into executive stardom." In 1994, Mechanic left Disney to become head of Fox Filmed Entertainment . Another executive, Bob Chapek , would later ascend through
9250-502: The hugely successful children's series Thunderbirds and, under its successor company Century 21 Television/Cinema Productions, Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons . ITC also funded Anderson-created programmes aimed at the adult market, including UFO and Space: 1999 . It was at ITC's request that Fanderson , "the Gerry Anderson Appreciation Society," was founded. Another ITC children's series
9375-452: The industry's bestselling live-action home video release. With the May 1997 departure of DeLellis, a quick rotation of presidents led Fox Home Entertainment: Yapp for four months before he left to lead Hollywood Video , then an interim president—Pat Wyatt, head of 20th Century Fox Licensing & Merchandising, who assumed the post in September 1997. With DVD being a Warner Home Video property,
9500-510: The joint-venture, but was replaced as president in January 1983 by a former Columbia Pictures executive, Larry Hilford. Hilford had been a verbal critic of the video rental business, but with the situation out of their control, he attempted to make the situation work for them. CBS/Fox and other home video units increased prices of the cassettes by around 67% to maximize income. They also moved to encourage customer purchasing instead of renting. As
9625-666: The largely obsolete videotape medium. As of 2006 , the Video CD format remained popular in Asia. DVDs have been gradually losing popularity since the late 2010s and early 2020s, when streaming media became mainstream for the audiences, with most media consumers in urban areas globally having domestic Internet access. As early as 1906, various film entrepreneurs began to consider the business potential of home viewing of films, and in 1912, both Edison and Pathé started selling film projectors for home use. Because making release prints
9750-483: The latter of which was taped at ABC-TV studios in Hollywood. ITC got its start as a production company when former American producer Hannah Weinstein approached Lew Grade. Weinstein wanted to make a programme called The Adventures of Robin Hood . Weinstein proposed making the series for ITV and simultaneously marketing it in the United States through an American TV distribution company, Official Films . The series
9875-614: The launch of Disney+ in 2019 and its international expansion in the following years, Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment (which had been distributing 20th Century & Searchlight titles since 2020) has begun to discontinue physical distribution entirely in certain regions such as Latin America, Australia, New Zealand, Russia, Greece, India, the Middle East, Portugal, Asia (except for Japan), Hungary, and Romania, or to let other companies distribute in certain international markets like
10000-758: The launch of various streaming services during the early 2020s, in particular those operated by the major Hollywood studios, home video continued to decline. One of the most prominent examples of this effect was with Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment which, following the launch of Disney+ in 2019 and its international expansion in the following years, began to discontinue physical distribution entirely in certain regions such as Latin America, Asia (excluding Japan), Australia, New Zealand, Portugal and Hungary, or to outsource its activities to other regional distributors (like Divisa Home Video for Spain, Eagle Pictures for Italy, Leonine Studios for Germany, and Sony Pictures Home Entertainment for North America. A time period
10125-580: The majority of its television output. Although most of the ITC series were produced in Britain, ITC often worked with Television Programs of America (TPA) and several series were filmed in America. Possibly the earliest ITC series produced in the US was Fury , a Saturday morning live-action series, about a beloved ranch horse, which starred Peter Graves and ran on NBC in the late 1950s and early 1960s. In 1963 Gerry Anderson 's Anderson-Provis (AP) Films became part of ACC and produced Fireball XL-5 ,
10250-453: The moratorium strategy with the August 1995 release of the three original Star Wars movies giving them a sales window before going off the market forever; four months for New Hope , and until the fall of 1997 for The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi . Sales topped 30 million copies over expectations. The company's 1996 release of Independence Day sold 18 million units, making it
10375-457: The most titles with 10. Dunn added another title in December 2016: president of product strategy and consumer business development. Dunn turned over TCFHE in March 2017 to Keith Feldman taking over his older title, president of worldwide home entertainment. Feldman was previously president of worldwide home entertainment distribution, and, before that, president of international. In December 2017,
10500-430: The number of topics, including "...dog handling videos, back pain videos and cooking videos", which were not previously thought of as marketable. Next, even "golf and skiing tapes* started selling. Contemporary sources noted, "new technology has changed the territory" of the home video market. In the early 2000s, VHS gradually began to be displaced by DVD . The DVD format has several advantages over VHS. A DVD consists of
10625-453: The price was right . Rather than sell a few thousand units at a wholesale price of $ 70 into the rental channel, video distributors could sell hundreds of thousands of units at a wholesale price of $ 15-20 into the retail " sell-through " channel. The "ultimate accelerant" for the rise of the "sell-through" home video market was the development of children's home video. The pre-1980s conventional wisdom that consumers had no interest in watching
10750-495: The prices of both equipment and videocassettes were needed before both formats started to become widespread in households. The first company to duplicate and distribute feature films from major film studios on home video was Magnetic Video . Magnetic Video was established in 1968 as an audio and video duplication service for professional audio and television corporations in Farmington Hills, Michigan . After Betamax
10875-682: The production budget into producing one show, The Adventures of Robin Hood (ITV, 1955–59). However, the winner of one of the contracts, the Associated Broadcasting Development Company, had insufficient funds to start broadcasting, so the ITP owners were brought into the consortium—now renamed the Associated Broadcasting Company (ABC)—and Lew Grade came to dominate it. In 1957, now known as Incorporated Television Company (ITC),
11000-452: The public could purchase a film projector for one of those film formats and rent or buy home-use prints of some cartoons, short comedies, and brief "highlights" reels edited from feature films. The Super 8 film format, introduced in 1965, was marketed for making home movies, but it also boosted the popularity of show-at-home films. Eventually, longer, edited-down versions of feature films were issued, which increasingly came in color and with
11125-500: The purchase of Fox by Disney, Entertainment One ended its deal with Fox and signed a multinational distribution deal with Universal Pictures Home Entertainment shortly after. With the acquisition of Entertainment One by Lionsgate in 2023, Lionsgate Home Entertainment and Sony Pictures Home Entertainment took over the home media distribution rights of these catalogs. In 2013, as part of DreamWorks Animation 's existing five-year distribution deal with 20th Century Fox, Fox also released
11250-453: The ranks of Disney's home video division to become chief executive officer of the entire company in 2020, and for that reason (before his sudden 2022 departure) was called "the home entertainment industry's single biggest success story." Until the mid-1980s, home video was dominated by feature film theatrical releases such as The Wizard of Oz , Citizen Kane , and Casablanca from major film studios . At that time, not many people owned
11375-463: The release of Walking with Dinosaurs , which was instead transferred over from CBS/Fox to Warner on September 1, 2000. In 1998, after ending their deal with WEA Video , Artisan signed a deal with Fox to release Artisan's film library in the United States. After the Lionsgate purchase in December 2003, it was expanded to include Canada as well. The deal expired in July 2021, with Lionsgate signing
11500-703: The rights for several years afterwards; video rights were licensed to J2 Communications beginning in 1988 (under the ITC Home Video branding). This came to an end following a legal dispute between ITC and J2 over the rights to the National Lampoon IP then-owned by J2, which ITC had attempted to auction off without J2's knowledge or consent. As for ITC's television output, Carlton (and later Granada and now ITV) released some of these shows on DVD both in Europe and North America. There were however
11625-467: The same films again and again at home turned out to be entirely wrong with respect to children. Many harried parents discovered that it was a good investment to pay $ 20 to purchase a videocassette that could reliably keep their children riveted to the television screen for over an hour—and not just one time, but many, many times. The Walt Disney Company recognized that its flagship animation studio's family-friendly films were superbly positioned to conquer
11750-507: The screening rooms of a few archives and museums. Beginning in the 1950s, most could be expected to be broadcast on television, eventually. During this era, television programs normally could only be viewed at the time of broadcast . Viewers were accustomed to the fact that there was no easy way to record television shows at home and watch them whenever desired. In 1924, Kodak invented 16 mm film , which became popular for home use, and then later developed 8 mm film . After that point,
11875-593: The show was off the air by March 1991, mainly due to a glut of syndicated game show offerings during the 1990–91 season, as well as several changes in gameplay which were criticized, as was host Patrick Wayne . In 1995, PolyGram purchased the company for $ 156 million. with Grade once again returning to ITC to act as a consultant until his death in December 1998. In 1997, it was absorbed into PolyGram Television . On 10 December 1998, Universal Studios' parent, Seagram purchased PolyGram for $ 10.2 billion. In early January 1999, Carlton Communications bought
12000-491: The small community of film buffs who for decades had willingly paid hundreds of dollars to purchase release prints. Therefore, in 1977, Magnetic Video originally priced its videocassettes at $ 50 to $ 70 each—a princely sum at a time when the average price of an American movie ticket was $ 2.23—and sold them only to wholesalers capable of handling a minimum order of $ 8,000. When the American home video market suddenly took off like
12125-583: The so-called "sell-through" channel, to be purchased at retail or ordered directly by consumers and viewed exclusively as home videos. It was pointed out at the time that [L]imitations within the video marketplace may be gone tomorrow. More people are finding innovative ways to create visually stimulating entertainment and information for the video tape player... Like contemporary book publishing, you can produce and distribute yourself to very narrow markets or seek broad-based distributors for mass-oriented appeal. Special-interest video increased to larger audiences
12250-534: The subsidiary Black Lion Films was founded in the manner of Euston Films (owned by Thames Television ), but its best remembered production, The Long Good Friday , was sold on to HandMade Films . In the summer of 1980, two films released by AFD within six weeks of each other helped lead to the distribution company's dissolution. Can't Stop the Music , designed to be a showcase for the Village People at
12375-465: The three volumes of the Bobby's World show. The company was renamed Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment on March 16, 1995, after Fox Entertainment Group acquired CBS's interest in CBS/Fox. The reorganization also created additional distribution operations ( Fox Kids Video , CBS Video , and CBS/Fox Video) and two new media units, Fox Interactive and Magnet Interactive Studios. Total revenue for
12500-503: The time were still ultimately released by AFD, to handle the release of the remaining pictures still in production at the time of the sale, beginning with The Legend of the Lone Ranger , and including On Golden Pond , Sophie's Choice , The Dark Crystal , and The Great Muppet Caper . As of this writing. the various copyrights have reverted to their respective owners, but Universal still maintains theatrical rights to most of
12625-423: The two companies occurred after HIT closed their standalone home video unit in North America. The distribution deal was not renewed and in February 2008, HIT signed a new home video deal with Lionsgate Home Entertainment . In November 2006, following the major success of Fox's distribution of the company's Strawberry Shortcake series, animation studio DIC Entertainment struck a five-year deal with Fox to release
12750-600: The two companies struck a deal to co-produce more HBO-exclusive films (HBO would retain home video rights, while ITC took foreign and broadcast TV distribution rights). During 1988, The Bell Group, the owners of ITC were taken over by the Bond Corporation . Subsequently, the new owners started an asset-stripping programme. In November 1988 ITC Entertainment was bought by its management. In 1990, ITC abandoned television production and concentrated on low-budget feature films. TV production at ITC would not resume until
12875-602: The two companies until 2023. After a prior home entertainment distribution arrangement for Australia and Spain, in February 2016, Entertainment One (eOne) and 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment signed a new multi-territory distribution agreement. The agreement called for a distribution joint venture in Canada. In the United Kingdom, Ireland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Spain and Australia, Fox would manage eOne's existing home video distribution. In March 2019, after
13000-573: The video distribution arm had been under a deal with a home entertainment company called Magnetic Video , a small independent home video distributor founded by Andre Blay and Leon Nicholson that was based in Farmington Hills, Michigan , after a previous relationship with the company. In March 1979, 20th Century-Fox acquired Magnetic Video. In late 1981, Fox renamed Magnetic Video Corporation to 20th Century-Fox Video and continued to be headquartered in Farmington Hills, Michigan. However, Blay
13125-473: The viewer: DVDs can support both standard 4:3 and widescreen 16:9 screen-aspect ratios, and can provide twice the video resolution of VHS. Skipping ahead to the end is much easier and faster with a DVD than with a VHS tape (which has to be rewound). DVDs can have interactive menus, multiple language tracks, audio commentaries, closed captioning, and subtitling (with the option of turning the subtitles on or off, or selecting subtitles in several languages). Moreover,
13250-735: Was The Adventures of Rupert Bear , the first television outing for the Daily Express cartoon character. ITC (in partnership with the Italian company RAI ) was also behind Franco Zeffirelli 's Biblical mini-series Jesus of Nazareth , Moses the Lawgiver , and the Gregory Peck television film The Scarlet and the Black . In 1978, ITC launched a subsidiary, Marble Arch Productions , for American-produced programmes, which in 1982
13375-581: Was Playhouse Video , launched in February 1985 (replacing the short-lived CBS/Fox Children's Video label) and run in a similar fashion to Key Video, with am emphasis on children's and family titles, including those of The Muppets , Planet of the Apes original pentalogy , Shirley Temple movies and content from CBS (including the Dr. Seuss specials owned by the network and Peanuts movies and specials). Both of these labels were rendered inactive by 1991; under Fox,
13500-430: Was (and still is) very expensive—as of 2005, the cost of making a release print was still at least $ 1,000 —early projector owners rented films by mail directly from the projector manufacturers. The Edison company's business model was fundamentally flawed because it had started with phonographs and did not differentiate home viewing from home listening. Edison exited the home viewing business in 1914; Pathé remained active
13625-466: Was a big success in both countries, running from 1955 until 1959 on CBS and ATV London. Grade realised the potential in overseas sales and colour television (the last 14 episodes of The Adventures of Sir Lancelot were filmed in colour a decade before colour television existed in the UK), and ITC combined high production values with exotic locations and uses of variations on the same successful formula for
13750-655: Was acquired by Granada plc (which then renamed itself ITV plc ). ITV Studios continues to release ITC's original output through television and Internet-streaming repeats, books and DVD and Blu-ray releases. Today, the underlying rights are generally owned by ITV Studios Global Entertainment via ITV plc and its respective predecessors, although in most cases Shout! Factory now holds full worldwide distribution rights (with US theatrical distribution handled by Shout!'s Westchester Films division, passed on from former distributors Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Park Circus ). In turn, Shout!'s video distribution rights in North America to
13875-521: Was born, initially, as a rental business. Film studios and video distributors assumed that the overwhelming majority of consumers would not want to buy prerecorded videocassettes, but would merely rent them. They felt that virtually all sales of videocassettes would be to video rental stores and set prices accordingly. According to Douglas Gomery , studio executives thought that the handful of consumers actually interested in purchasing videocassettes in order to watch them again and again would be similar to
14000-484: Was continuing their DVD services with 5.3 million subscribers, which was a significant decrease from the previous year, but their streaming services had 65 million members. Netflix's primary business is its subscription-based streaming service , which offers online streaming of a library of films and television programs, including those produced in-house. As of April 2019, Netflix had over 148 million paid subscriptions worldwide, including 60 million in
14125-546: Was forced out at the time, with Telecommunications division president and CEO Steve Roberts taking charge of TCF Video. During this time, 20th Century-Fox Video released a few titles for rental only, including Eye of the Needle , Caveman , Death Hunt , Dr. No , A Fistful of Dollars , Rocky , Taps , For Your Eyes Only , Omen III: The Final Conflict , Chu Chu and the Philly Flash (aka Chu Chu and
14250-558: Was launched in the United States in 1976, Magnetic Video chief executive Andre Blay wrote letters to all the major film studios offering to license the rights to their films. Near the end of 1977, Magnetic Video entered into a first-of-its-kind deal with 20th Century Fox . Magnetic Video agreed to pay Fox a royalty of $ 7.50 per unit sold and a guaranteed annual minimum payment of $ 500,000 in exchange for nonexclusive rights to 50 films, which had to be at least two years old and had already been broadcast on network television . Home video
14375-513: Was not renewed. In June 2016, Fox signed a deal with Warner Home Video to distribute Warner's library in Spain . The deal was extended in September 2019 after Disney acquired Fox as Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment took over Fox on distributing Warner's library in Spain. When Divisa Home Video started distributing Disney's titles in Spain, the deal expired in April 2022, as Arvi Licensing signed
14500-563: Was on the decline and the rise of HDTVs required a new, high-resolution format; Fox and half the studios backed Blu-ray , while the other half backed HD DVD , and some planned to issue releases in both formats. In late 2006, the company began releasing its titles on Blu-ray . Blu-ray won the format war in 2008, but with streaming services picking up in popularity and the Great Recession, the expected rebound in disc sales never happened. In 2006, animation studio DIC Entertainment struck
14625-521: Was released soon after Mechanic's arrival with a sell through price, and surpassed sale projections at 10 million tapes. In 1995, FoxVideo launched a line, Fox Kids Video, in order to release various titles that was aired on the Fox Kids Network, such as Bobby's World , The Tick , Eek! the Cat and Where on Earth Is Carmen Sandiego? , although the name was previously used a year earlier on
14750-638: Was released through PFC Vidéo in France. They exited the venture to release content through Universal. In June 2013, 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment and Paramount Home Media Distribution formed a joint-venture partnership titled Fox-Paramount Home Entertainment in Nordic territories. In 2020, the company was shut down. In late 2013, 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment began distributing Sony Pictures Home Entertainment in Spanish territories, including Latin America and Spain. The deal expired in June 2016 and
14875-575: Was renamed as Fox Pathé Europa. The venture ended shortly after Disney's purchase of 20th Century Fox, with Pathé resorting to simply self-distributing their home video releases and EuropaCorp moving to ESC Distribution. From 1995 to 2021, Fox held a distribution partnership with Pathé's UK branch as well, which began after the then-named Guild entered into the 50-50 rental joint venture with Fox's UK branch called Fox Guild Home Entertainment . The deal also allowed Fox to take over retail distribution of Guild products from PolyGram Video . After Pathé retired
15000-413: Was renamed to ITC Productions. Outside of telefilms and mini-series, Marble Arch only ever produced two sitcoms, Maggie , which ABC aired from 1981 to 1982 and The Two of Us , which aired on CBS, also that same season. After the renaming, ITC attempted to branch out more into series and the lucrative first-run syndication market. In 1990, ITC placed Marble Arch up for sale amid financial losses; it
15125-534: Was soon dropped as 4K, or Ultra HD , was introduced in 2012. In 2014, a high-tech think tank, Fox Innovation Lab , was formed under 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment. In September 2015, the first Ultra HD Blu-ray player was introduced, leading TCFHE to have future movies released the same day in Ultra HD Blu-ray as regular Blu-ray and DVD. The first Ultra HD Blu-ray films were released in March 2016, with Fox being one of four studios involved; Fox had had
15250-417: Was the distinct home video distribution arm of Fox Entertainment Group . It was formed in 1982 as 20th Century-Fox Video . On March 20, 2019, The Walt Disney Company acquired 21st Century Fox , and as a result, its operations were folded into Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment , Disney's own home entertainment division, where it exists in the present-day merely as a brand label . From 1976 to 1981,
15375-443: Was the home media release of The First Omen on July 30, 2024. On June 24, 2024, it was reported that Sony had entered into a distribution deal with Studio Distribution Services to handle the physical distribution of titles from Sony Pictures as well as Disney and Lionsgate Home Entertainment through their existing distribution deals with SPHE. 20th Century Home Entertainment is used by Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment as
15500-480: Was the year's top-selling title and the top Blu-ray Disc seller, with 5 million units sold. In 2011, Fox released on Blu-ray Disc the full Star Wars double trilogy on 9 discs, a premium set selling 1 million units its first week in stores, generating $ 84 million in gross sales. In response to Warner Bros., Sony and MGM issuing manufactured-on-demand lines of no-frills DVD-R editions of older films in May 2012, TCFHE began its Cinema Archives series. By November 2012,
15625-524: Was ultimately sold to Interscope Communications , a film and television production company who assumed Marble Arch's former duties in exchange for ITC's handling of distribution and co-financing of Interscope projects. The company did not return to first-run television production until 1993, via a deal with producer David Gerber . Interscope would eventually return to common ownership with ITC following its acquisition by PolyGram. In addition to television programming, ITC also produced several films. In 1976,
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